Screaming In The Night
by DeepSixx
Summary: Two newcomers have arrived on Isla Nublar. Despite their experience with animals, nothing has prepared them for the challenges of working with the Untameable King, and only time will tell whether their hard work with the Indominus will pay off, or if she really is just a blood thirsty monster.
1. Chapter 1

**AN~ Hey you guys! So it's been awhile and this is the first fanfic I've written in quite some time. I pulled some personal OCs of mine to add, and believe me, we'll get to the nitty gritty as far as dinosaurs are concerned, but I wanted to be thorough as far as their introduction goes and what exactly they're doing on Isla Nublar. There's also a lot of human interactions and relationships as well that take awhile to build with a lot of damage to the characters in their past, so have patience with me. I'm sort of winging it, but please review! Let me know what you think! - Wendigo**

Danny Strong shifted in his plane seat, wincing as he tried to stretch out the tension in his lower back, shifting his gaze out the window. Next to him his twenty-seven-year-old intern-turned-colleague, Mia, was still asleep, her head lolling off to the side of her buckwheat neck pillow. They were flying to Isla Nublar, recently hired on with animal behavior experience to assist with the care of the animals on the island and were employed by Jurassic World, the multi-million dollar park in Costa Rica.

Danny wasn't sure if he bought it. The heavily tattooed and pierced male in his forties had seen the reports on TV from a number of years back and had heard about the downfall of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World's predecessor and the park that had founded the "de-extinction" method that brought dinosaurs back in the closest manner possible, but he couldn't believe they'd be that stupid as to try it again. That being said, when he was offered the job, he couldn't turn it down. He had to see it for himself to believe it.

They landed in Panama and were ushered to the ferry that would take them to Isla Nublar. Danny was leaning against the railing when he felt a nudge to the side of his arm, looking and meeting Mia's hazel eyes and the grin on her face.

"Still skeptical?" She asked him. Danny snorted. His relationship with Mia was unique. Though she worked under him, they had both gotten extremely close. Danny looked at her like a younger sister, and though she had originally come to learn under him, the younger woman kept him on his toes. They had a great rapport and over the years developed a great friendship. Which was why Mia could be a smartass with Danny on a regular basis and harass him, and for the most part, he let her get away with it.

"Not so much skeptical, just sort of baffled," Danny responded, shaking his head. "You'd think they'd have learned by now. This is natural selection at it's finest."

"Can you try not to be a downer for like, five minutes and look at the opportunity we've gotten? _Dinosaurs_ , Dan. These are dinosaurs. We're going to be working with dinosaurs."Mia pointed out. "Dinosaurs which have been extinct for sixty-five million years."

"Same dinosaurs that InGen has shown time and time again that they can't control within an inch of their lives," Danny said."People messing with things they should have left alone a long time ago. Hammond couldn't do it, it's a bad idea for anyone else to try."

Mia couldn't say she blamed Danny for his point of view. He wasn't alone in thinking that another disaster was inevitable. But she also knew her colleague well enough to know that he couldn't resist going over to check it out, either.

They finally reached the dock and were met by a tight-lipped Irish woman with long black hair and sunglasses holding a sign reading **STRONG HARPER**. They went to meet the woman who introduced herself flippantly as Zara Young. She gave brief explanations as to where they would be heading with two dossiers ready for them.

"My boss will be speaking with both of you once you get settled. You'll have a shared vehicle with navigation. All sectors of the island are already pre programmed into them." Zara said. "Once you've gotten settled in your housing, which are next door to each other, you can ring me-my number is listed on the business card in your dossier, and I'll let my boss know you'll be coming to speak to her."

Once they got off the monorail, both Danny and Mia were led to a Mercedes SUV and got in. Mia saw Zara glancing at the both of them out of the corner of her eye, her skepticism apparent. Both Mia and Danny had tattoos; Danny being sleeved up on both arms and Mia with a tattoo on the back of her shoulder and partial upper shoulder. They both had nose rings, and Danny a pierced eyebrow. He came across as the rough metal head-rocker type, not so much an animal behaviorist. Mia knew they looked a little unconventional, but seeing as Zara wasn't the person they were going to be working with much, Mia really couldn't care less what the woman's opinion was of her and her colleague. The trip to staff housing was a quiet one, but it went by quickly. They were given their keys and assigned housing. Mia was grateful that she and Danny were next door, and their bags were already in their designated living spaces. Once they got settled, Danny and Mia called Zara who came to pick them up and transport them to Hammond Creation Lab. When they got there, a woman with short, straight red hair, a white blouse and black pencil skirt greeted them.

"Hi, Danny Strong and Mia Harper?" The woman said, offering a hand. "I'm Claire Dearing. I can't tell you how happy we are to have you both on board. You're both highly respected in your field."

The woman was very well rehearsed, and Danny could tell by looking in her eyes that she was sharp as a tack. This was the type of woman Jurassic World needed running the company, but Danny wasn't sure what to make of her as a person yet. He imagined she was no pushover.

"Glad to be here," Mia said, shaking her hand after Danny did. "We're both excited."

"And maybe a little skeptical," Danny said flatly and Mia shot him a look.

"Understandable. Jurassic World has a bit of a history behind it from Jurassic Park, but I assure you that we have a great team of the world's best contractors and have taken every safety precaution to prevent another… well… incident," Claire told them as she guided them down the corridor to the genetic labs. "As John Hammond always said: we spared no expense."

"How'd that work out for you last time?" Danny muttered with a scoff. Mia elbowed him sharply and Danny shot her an exchanged look. Danny was very straight forward and to the point. Mia found that his mouth was what had gotten him into trouble in the past, but he was no bullshitter. If something bothered him, you knew about it. But it was a horrible idea showing his lack of a filter to their new employer, who had stopped and glanced over at him.

"I'm sorry-" Mia tried to cover for him, but Claire held up a hand.

"No, it's fine. I know we don't have the greatest reputation following us, but I assure you every necessary precaution has been taken. You're upfront, Mr. Strong, and I respect that. If you'd like sometime, I can sit you down with one of our Asset Containment Unit members and have him show you exactly what we've done to ensure the safety of our employees, guests, and animals." Claire offered. Mia looked in Danny's direction as he seemed to be considering it.

"Yeah, I'd like to take you up on that," Danny responded, arms crossed over his chest. Mia found herself relieved that he seemed to be coming around. He wore a hardened expression but it seemed like maybe if he knew what they were doing to ensure the animals stayed contained and on the island, it might put him a bit more at ease. Claire eyed him, nodding. Mia knew the look and had seen it many times on people who first encountered Danny. He was a hard nut to crack.

"So, I read both applications, but I'd love to hear about your experiences from you personally," Claire said as she guided them into her office on the far side of the building where they both took a seat.

"Well, school and such aside, I started off working with horses when I was a kid. Worked at a racetrack in the Bay Area, so I dealt with knuckleheaded racehorses throughout my teens. My early twenties, they had me working as a stallion manager. I went to school for animal behavioral science, got a job at zoos, worked at a couple wolf rescues. Big cat rescues, studied them, got a degree, worked with predators, and so on." Danny said.

"What about you, Mia?" Claire asked.

"Sort of similar, I had horses growing up and rode. Worked with them, then was going to school for animal science and got a job learning under Danny. I've worked with him for four years, he taught me everything I know as far as predators go." Mia replied.

Claire studied both of them for a moment and nodded slowly, seeming satisfied with the answers. "Good, you guys both have that experience. I think this is going to work out well. Danny, I'm going to have Mia still learning under you. It's been going really well thus far, you guys have a working relationship, and I think you can definitely take her farther as far as her potential goes. I'm confident with both your competence, especially with what I'd like for you to be working with."

"What're we working with?" Danny asked.

"We'll talk more about that tomorrow," Claire said. "For now, I need you both rested for then and on Costa Rica time. I'll introduce you to our other keepers then as well."

Danny and Mia both headed back out to employee housing and said their goodnights. They were both exhausted, but when Danny had changed for bed, he found that he couldn't get to sleep. After an hour of tossing and turning, he exhaled heavily and turned over onto his back, reaching over to the bedside table for the TV remote and flipped on the TV. He laid staring blankly at the TV for about thirty minutes before there was a soft knock on his door. Brows furrowing, he got up and headed toward the door tentatively.

"Just me," He heard Mia's voice on the other side. With a glance at the clock, he realized she was probably having the same issue. He opened the door and saw Mia in flannel pajama pants and an old Led Zeppelin t-shirt.

"Couldn't sleep either?" Danny asked her, opening the door for her to come in as he shuffled back toward the bed.

"Nope, and heard your TV on so I knew you were awake," She replied, looking at the TV. "What're you watching?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Danny said, patting the mattress in an invite for her to come sit. "You're welcome to hang out and watch whatever it is though."

"Sure, I'll keep you company," She said teasingly, grinning when Danny rolled his eyes good-naturedly, lying back down on the bed and Mia leaned against the pillows behind her next to him.

"What'd you think of it all?" Danny asked her, looking up at her with one arm resting behind his head, the other draped carelessly across his stomach.

"Not really sure yet," Mia said with a shrug. "I mean, it's a really cool opportunity but I guess we'll find out more tomorrow. Claire seems really intense."

"Oh yeah she does," Danny snorted in agreement, shaking his head. "I think we saw the best of her today. I'm willing to bed she only gets worse from here on out to work for."

"Well, you can't blame her really, look what she has to run," Mia said. She tucked her feet under the covers and Danny lifted the covers for her to shimmy under, lying next to him. This was nothing new. They had camped out in enclosures together for years. They had a really, really close friendship that had only deepened when Danny was going through a really nasty divorce not even a few months ago, and he was still in the process of it. Mia had made a point to try to offer him emotional support through it, and with them working so closely together, it was easier for the tough exterior Danny to confide and open up to her than anyone else. Over the years, Mia really had grown to care about him, and Danny had gotten attached and very protective of her as well. Nothing was taboo between them. "It takes a special kind of person to have what it takes to run a dinosaur park."

"Yeah, that's probably true," He agreed with a shrug. His blue eyes fixed on the TV for a moment, not really concerned with what was on as Mia shifted and settled, turning onto her side with her arm tucked under the side of her head.

"How's everything else going? Have you heard from anyone back home?" She asked.

"Like lawyers? Oh yeah," Danny muttered. "And Amanda. You should have heard her when I told her I was moving down here. She absolutely lost her shit. She told her attorney she swore it was me trying to get out of paying her any money. I already agreed to alimony, I don't know what else she wants."

"She's trying to make your life miserable," Mia said, her tone sympathetic. "You're moving on and trying to make your life better, and it's without her so she's pissed off. She wants you to suffer, but that isn't on you."

"Yeah, well, she likes to think it is, but whatever," Danny shrugged, exhaling slowly. "I just said 'fuck it'. She didn't want to be married to me anymore, she's not going to run my life. This was the best decision I could have made for my future, and she hates that. But whatever."

"You're going to do awesome," Mia told him, scooting nearer to him and lay her head against his shoulder, a silent means of offering support. "We've got this."

She saw a thin smile tug at the corners of Danny's mouth as he tilted the side of his head against hers in return, but Mia could see it still bothered him. He was trying to mask the fact his own lack of self-esteem from his divorce with a front and hide the fact that in truth, he really did feel like he failed. But this was a new chapter. He was actually making this call for himself rather than someone else, and he was grateful that Mia had come along with him-not only because of the opportunity he knew it would be for her, but it was nice to have someone there that he knew and was as close to as he was Mia. This was a whole new beginning for them, and they both knew that as Mia had fallen asleep on Danny's shoulder next to him, and he wasn't far behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN~ Hey you guys, so this is the second chapter of the day, I was thinking get it moved along a little bit. PLEASE R &R! Let me know what you think!**

 **Wendigo**

The next day, Mia and Danny went down to meet with Claire. Zara had called both of them and told them where they'd be heading. They both had showered and met out front where Danny struggled to operate the navigational system in the jeep.

"Fucker," He muttered, giving the dashboard a smack. Mia had wandered over to Main Street and stopped by a coffee shop before the park opened up, getting a cup for Danny and one for herself while buying two packs of cigarettes at another shop. Ironically, Jurassic World only had a few assigned smoking areas, but they sold cigarettes? Mia guessed it was due to the variety of countries and cultures that came to visit Jurassic World, but she also countered herself and Danny lucky; both being smokers. She figured Danny hadn't bought a pack either. She came back to the jeep to find that Danny had gotten it working and she got into the passenger seat, setting the cups in the cup holders and tossed a pack of cigarettes at Danny, who shot her a grateful look.

"You're a lifesaver."

Danny followed the path over to a large octogonal enclosure in a restricted area of the island. Mia exchanged looks with Danny, both of them furrowing their brows in question. They spotted a Mercedes SUV parked out front, and then heard a loud shriek echo from the enclosure followed by the voice of a couple of the keepers.

"Good, you made it," Claire said with a small smile, coming over to greet them as Mia and Danny got out of the vehicle. "If you both could follow me, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

"Where are we exactly?" Mia asked.

"The _Velociraptor_ Paddock," Claire said as she walked briskly toward the first gate. Inside, a tall, military-looking guy was dirty blonde hair in cargo pants was in the paddock, and four velociraptors surrounded him. Mia's brows shot up.

" **Hey** -Echo, stand down," The guy said. He was older than Mia by maybe a few years but younger than Danny. He was tall and muscular however, looking like the type that would be working with Velociraptors. The bronze raptor in front of him hunched down and hissed, baring her teeth.

"What's gotten into you lately?" The guy frowned, holding out a hand before the raptor could lunge forward " _Knock it off, Echo._ I'm not kidding. You want Blue to get involved?"

Off to the side, a raptor larger than the bronze one with Owen stood ready, sickle claw tapping the ground eagerly. It was a bluish grey with dark blue lines running along both sides of its frame. The raptor's tail swished two and fro, head lifting like that of a bird as it looked from the bronze raptor to their handler.

"You're shitting me," Danny muttered in disbelief under his breath. Mia was just as in awe as they watched how the man handled the animals. Clanging caused both Mia and Danny to jump and look quickly to the right where their attention hadn't been. Inside the chutes and muzzles were two green raptors; one with stripes and the other a more jungle green. They seemed to pick up on what was going on with their two siblings, and being segregated was not sitting well with them.

"Barry, can you handle them, please? They're not helping," The guy said shortly, not once taking his eyes off the raptor in front of him. Danny almost wondered what he planned on doing if the blue raptor behind him decided that it was going to tag team him with its sibling, but the other one seemed to just be waiting to see what the outcome of this would be. The bronze raptor, Echo, looked pissed off at something and her aggression was being directed at the guy. A tall black man inside the fence but out of the pen nodded quickly, his French accent just clear enough to be heard.

"Easy Delta. Charlie, my girl, you're alright," He crooned softly. Danny had looked over to see what was happening in the chutes, but his attention was drawn back to the other guy and his raptors.

"Does he need help?" Mia asked, looking in Claire's direction.

"I think he's got it, this happens often," Claire said quietly, but hesitantly.

"Echo-" The man warned, but his sentence cut off abruptly when he jumped back when the bronze raptor shrieked and lunged forward at him. The blue raptor echoed her sister's cry of warning and jumped up, the bronze and blue raptor rolling across the ground in a cloud of dust, hisses, screeches, snarls and yelps.

"Owen get out of the way!" The other man, Barry, had shouted, trying to keep the other two raptors calm as the guy stepped out of the way of the tumbling raptor ball. They heard jaws snapping, shrieks and snarls before Echo scrambled out of the way of her sister's ambush, coiling her head down as she hissed in warning, but Blue wasn't having it. It became apparent as Echo slunk to the other end of the paddock who had come out the victor. Blue had apparently put Echo back in her place.

"That's my girl," The guy praised with what looked like a relieved nod, slipping through the gate when Barry opened it.

"Send the pig out after you let Delta and Charlie back out," The guy told Barry, clapping him on the shoulder, but the disappointed look in his eyes said it all as he walked out toward them, the look in his eyes changing to stern wariness.

"Mr. Grady," Claire began as the guy came out.

"Owen," The guy, Owen, corrected, as though it had happened a number of times.

" _Owen_ ," Claire fought the urge to roll her eyes. "I wanted you to meet our two new handlers, Danny Strong and Mia Harper."

Owen eyeballed the both of them, then looked at Claire. "Are they… ?"

"Yes, hopefully," Claire said and Owen gave a dry laugh.

"What is this? Ozzfest?" He said, words critical.

"Oh, that's hilarious. Really, have never heard that one," Danny said flatly. Owen frowned.

"Pardon?" He questioned.

"I think you heard me," Danny responded tersely. He didn't like the way Owen was squaring up at him. He was taller than Danny, but Danny felt zero intimidation by this kid, even though he was trying.

"Okay-okay-" Claire interjected. "Great start you guys. Owen, can you just be nice?"

"I'm being nice, I don't have the attitude," Owen gave a shrug, arms crossed over his chest.

" _Right_ ," Danny scoffed, turning to walk a few feet away for a moment before turning back.

"Danny, come on," Mia shot him a look then looked back at Owen. "I assure you Danny and I are qualified in working with predators."

"Really? And you know what you're going to be working with?" Owen questioned. Mia frowned, throwing a quizzical look in Claire's direction.

"Well… no… not y-"

"-We haven't gone over that quite yet," Claire explained, rubbing the back of her neck.

"You haven't even told them yet?" Owen said.

"We were getting around to it,"

"Look, dinosaurs are new to us, yeah-" Mia began

"That's not a dinosaur. Whatever the thing is that they're going to have you working with, it's no dinosaur," Owen cut her off. Danny bristled.

"You want to let her get a sentence in?" Danny said. "Shit, dude, you're doing it to Claire too,"

"I'm sorry, Tattoo Nightmares, did you want to interject?" Owen retorted.

"Oh, real funny, asshole-"

"Alright **ENOUGH**." Claire said sharply and all three of them fell silent. Danny was still heated. It was bad enough that he had no idea what they were working with and now it was sounding a lot worse than he anticipated. His fuse was already shortened, and Owen The Dillhole wasn't helping.

"You two, act like adults. I'm not having this," Claire warned, shooting a look in Owen's direction and he dropped his gaze. "Now they're probably going to be consulting you about working with the asset, so I need you to grow up. You think you can do that?"

"Yeah, sure," Owen muttered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I'm going to go show them around. For now? You and Danny just keep your distance from each other. Deal with your own pack." Claire told him. Something about their chemistry told both Danny and Mia that Claire and Owen had some sort of history, but what exactly they couldn't tell. They didn't think Claire would talk to any old employee like she had Owen.

"I figured Owen would be a good resource. Utilize him," Claire told Mia and Danny. "Follow me,"

They followed Claire in the car toward another section of the restricted area. Mia looked over and saw that Danny was tense. He was obviously still pissed about his encounter with Owen, but just like it was her, Mia imagined it probably stressed him out that they had no idea what they were dealing with yet.

"You okay?" Mia asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He said with a shrug. "I'd like to just figure out what we're dealing with here,"

They pulled up and got out of the car at a giant paddock. Claire got out of her vehicle and met them each another folder.

"Alright, so you both will have to do your homework tonight, but we'll introduce you to your charge," Claire said as they headed up the stairs. "Our focus groups kept telling us that the dinosaurs weren't exactly that exciting anymore. A Stegosaurus was like seeing an elephant at the city zoo. Kids got bored with them."

"How do they get bored? It's a dinosaur," Danny said.

"There's so much hype in movies making these animals out to be monsters that are bigger, louder, and have more teeth. Our focus groups told us that's what they wanted to see." Claire explained with a shrug.

"So they wanted a movie monster rather than an actual dinosaur?" Mia commented, shaking her head. "So are these animals even dinosaurs?"

"They are, as close as our geneticists could get them," Claire said. "Some of them are altered and look a little bit different, but they're recognizable. Now what you're about to see is our first genetically modified hybrid."

Danny stopped in his tracks so fast that Mia almost walked into him. "Wait a minute, your _what?_ What did you just call it?"

Claire sighed, stopping and turned. "Our Indominus Rex. She's our genetically modified hybrid. Just come up and see her."

 _This isn't even a real animal?_ Danny's mind was whirling. When they got up to the viewing platform, there was a heavy man sitting at a desk surrounded by screens, one being infrared.

"We have infrared and heat sensors all over the paddock," Claire explained. "But we recently found out that she can drop her own body temperature so she goes undetected, and she can camouflage herself, like a chameleon."

"Chameleons don't camouflage," Mia corrected. "They change their body color depending on their mood or to mate. What exactly is this thing crossed with?"

"I'm afraid that's classified," Claire said. Danny scoffed.

"So you get us over here to work with an animal that not only never existed but we don't even get to know what DNA created her?" He said.

"She exists now," Claire said simply. Danny shook his head in stunned silence, hands on his hips as he looked through the glass. Dense foliage surrounded the paddock, but it wasn't until the brush shuddered and branches snapped that they heard and felt the footsteps of the giant animal inside of the paddock. The backdrop of what looked like plants and brush shuddered to an ashy white hide of scales as the giant head loomed between trees, a crimson-gold eye with a slit pupil watching them intently. She was huge, almost the size of a T-Rex.

"Jesus Christ," Mia breathed. Danny's jaw went slack, eyes widening. The dragon-like eye remained fixed on them, the nictitating membrane; or "third eyelid", slipping over and back off the eyeball in a very reptilian fashion.

"How exactly do you expect us to do our jobs when we don't know anything about this thing?" Danny said, turning to look at Claire. "What's her index?"

"Highly aggressive," Claire said, exhaling slowly. "This is why if you need to consult Owen, you can."

"I don't even know where to begin," Danny said. "I'd end up putting my trainee in danger, and myself. What exactly do you expect us to do?"

"Just… if we can get her to the point where she's safe doing feeding shows like our Tyrannosaur, then that's the ideal situation," Claire explained, looking at Mia when Danny had gone completely silent, watching the creature in the paddock.

"Was she the only one that was made?" Mia asked.

"Well, she had a sibling," Claire said.

"Where's the sibling?"

"She ate it."

Mia felt her stomach sink to her toes, and even saw Danny tense at Claire's answer.

"Can we drop a steer please, Kevin?" Claire asked the overweight operator. The man nodded and hit a button. They all watched a rack of what looked like a beef ribcage travel along above them on a crane and get lowered into the paddock.

"That's how you feed her?" Danny said.

"She started to figure out where our handlers were coming in and she'd be waiting. Eventually, it just became too dangerous."

"So that's the only interaction she has," Danny said. "The only positive relationship she has is with the crane."

"What do you suggest we do, take it on walks?" Claire said with a clipped tone.

"Well, was anybody working with her when she hatched?" Mia asked.

"Sort of. We couldn't manage her by hand," Claire said.

"So she's lived in complete solitude," Danny snorted. "This should be a success story."

"I have complete faith in both your abilities," Claire said, looking at her watch. "I need to go, let me know if you need anything."

At that, she left down the stairs, leaving both Mia and Danny staring at a creature that hadn't seen anything outside of these forty foot walls her entire life, the the responsibility of getting her used to people hanging over their heads.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN~ Hi you guys, so another chapter up. I see a lot of traffic coming through on my story and I really appreciate you guys taking the time to check it out. Let me know what you think, or any ideas. Would love to here from you.**

 **\- Wendigo**

Twenty minutes had passed and Danny had opted to just stay put and get a better look at the Indominus as a whole before he decided on their first move. The Rex, however, seemed to have other ideas on how their introduction was going to go. She wasn't emerging from her vegetated coverage, but Danny could feel her reptilian eyes on him.

"Come on, pretty girl, I know you know I'm here," Danny muttered softly. Mia had been leaning against the wall, letting Danny make the decision as to what they were going to do. He never once took his eyes off where he could see parts of the Indominus, as though if he so much as looked away for a second she'd dart away before he could see her.

"Think she's going to come out?" Mia asked. Danny shrugged.

"I don't know. Right now, she's watching both of us. She knows we're up here. I think she's trying to figure us out just as we are her." He responded. What sounded like a purring breath echoed from the Indominus' nostrils as the ashen white creature curved her head toward where the steer rib rack had been dropped. Both Danny and Mia drew breaths as the giant predator slowly emerged from the greenery. The moment the creature showed herself, Danny couldn't quite decide if she was extraordinary or monstrous. She was huge, even for her younger age. Both he and Mia stared at her as she ripped chunks of flesh from the ribcage below, both trying to decide what it took to make her.

"Base genome is Tyrannosaurus, I'm calling it right now," Mia said. Danny pulled up a website on his iPhone, scrolling through as he tried to identify different traits of the animal in front of them.

"She's not even fully matured yet, so I think she's going to get larger than the T-Rex," Danny remarked, his eyes darting up from his phone for a brief glance at the Indominus. "To get her that big, I'm guessing that's Giganotosaurus."

"Look at her teeth, she has a ton of them," Mia said.

"Yeah, they're not uniform either," Danny said, shaking his head. "That's probably something else. There's got to be the genome of a couple different big predators, so it's bound to cause some dental issues."

Looking at the Indominus, she had spikes poking out of the back of her head and out by the elbows of her longer forearms. Her head was angular and ugly with sunken in crimson-gold eyes, ultra tough and bony osteoderms with hornelike growths poking out along her head and along her spine, which Danny could only guess was for protection. The Indominus abnormal looking. Ugly. She stood out, like the child with something greatly wrong with it. But she was a fierce killing machine all rolled into one.

"Look at her hands," Mia motioned. "She has opposable thumbs."

"How many animals have that?" Danny commented, brows furrowing. He watched as the Indominus fastened her claws into the bleeding flesh of her meal, tilting her giant head and rumbled as she carefully flipped it over to the fleshy underside. The calculated movement right there and her problem solving tactics stood out, and Danny's jaw slackened once more.

"You saw that, right?" He said. "She's smart. She has that very specific, problem solving intelligence."

"Like a velociraptor," Mia remarked.

"Exactly. But I don't know if that's the case. Look at her, she really doesn't look like a raptor," Danny said.

"We could always get Owen in here and ask him," Mia offered.

"No. We've got it handled," Danny said pointedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Wow, you just don't get along with him, do you?" Mia teased with a light laugh.

"The guy's a dick. He may be good at what he does, but he's an arrogant jerk." Danny said. "I hate that young alpha male complex thing these younger guys have going on."

"Because you're alpha, too," Mia pointed out. "You have that same personality."

"Am I an arrogant jerk?" Danny said, looking in her direction, seeming to feign offense.

"No, but you have an alpha personality. A little like Owen. You two clash. But let's not dismiss the idea of maybe down the line getting Owen's take. This is about the Indominus, not any personal issues between another trainer," Mia said. They both stopped in their tracks however when the Indominus left her meal and began approaching the glass. She tilted her head, the same purring and snuffling leaving her as she investigated the glass, seeming to try to peer through it.

"Can she see through this?" Mia said quietly, knowing she and Danny both froze.

"She shouldn't be able to. It's one way glass," Danny muttered, but he didn't take his eyes off the Indominus. It didn't make sense. If she was just checking out the glass (and why when it's been there the whole time?) she would be moving up and down along the side of the viewing area. But she stayed right where she seemed to hone in on them. They could hear the vibrations of her rumbling, throaty vocalizations reverberating through the floor and walls.

"She sees us," Mia muttered quietly.

"There's no way. She can't possibly see through the glass."

"I wouldn't think so either, but look at her, she's fucking looking at us somehow." Mia hissed. Her hand squeezed Danny's shoulder. This boggled Danny's mind. Mia had to be right, this giant creature was somehow looking straight in at them. When she hooked a black talon on part of the window, there was no more doubt in Danny's mind.

"Let me try something," Danny said softly, and he took a few steps sideways about four feet away from Mia. It somehow sent a cold chill of alarm through him when he saw the Indominus' eyes follow his movements, then dart back to where Mia was. The creature hunkered down slightly with a low growl and her tail lashed at the side of the wall, causing them both to jump.

"Okay, Dan, you made your point, she can see us," Mia said quickly and Danny moved back toward her.

"I get that, but what I'm wondering is how," Danny muttered.

Mia's eyes lit up as it suddenly came to her. "Heat sensing. Like a pit adder," She said. Danny looked at her.

"What?"

"Think about it. She can probably sense heat. Infrared vision like snakes. I mean, if she can lower her own body temperature, what's stopping her from being able to sense others?" Mia said. "It's the only other explanation aside from x-ray vision, which I highly doubt."

Danny studied what he could of the Indominus' face. "Well, I can't get a close enough look at her nose to see if she has heat sensing pits, but that's the only plausible explanation."

"Danny, I think she's smart enough to where we might actually be able to build up some sort of rapport with her," Mia said. "I don't think she's just a ruthless killing machine."

"But she has the potential to be. Her genetics are basically working against her," Danny told her. "She's got to have at least four other major prehistoric predators in her DNA. She could be really dangerous. Look at how she reacted to us just now? That isn't friendly. She's trying to figure out what we are and probably if we can be eaten."

"We've got to come up with something though, Dan. I mean, we were hired on-"

"-To work with an animal they created that we know nothing about," Danny interjected. Mia looked exasperated.

"-yes, but do you really want to prove Owen right?" She countered. Danny went tight lipped, frowning. She knew she had gotten him on that one. Danny's pride was both his biggest ally and his worst enemy. She knew he'd sooner let the Indominus kill him than admit to Owen that he may have been right. At least right now. At that moment, it was Danny who was struck with an idea.

"I think there's a way we can do this."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN~ Hey you guys! Thank you so much, TurtleMaster341 for your review, I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter up, at least as far as I'm concerned. Crazy weekend, I have a pregnant horse that is going to foal any day, so we've had a busy weekend. I had some of this written up on Friday but wanted to add more before I actually published it. PLEASE, again, feel free to send in a review, I love hearing what you guys have to say about it. Thanks and enjoy! - Wendigo**

"So, I'm not sure I quite understand what you're requesting," Claire said in her office that evening as the park had begun to close. Danny and Mia had both gone in there to speak with Claire. Danny seemed to know what he wanted, and was the one who thought of the concept first, so Mia let Danny handle it. He also had a way of getting what he wanted.

"You know how there's a catwalk going around the raptor paddock?" Danny said. "What I'm proposing is creating another flight of stairs leading up to a platform just out of the Indominus' reach for access for the handlers and so on."

"What you're proposing is a huge liability," Claire responded, looking very reluctant and not very happy with having this discussion.

"I don't know how else you want us to our jobs then," Danny replied. "The platform will allow her to get used to our presence while we're out of reach. We might be able to build a lower one too so over time we can get closer to her, be in her turf without her feeling threatened and without her getting access to us while she still sees us as a threat. What I'm trying to do is build a positive relationship with this animal because up until now, she hasn't had that."

"There's been a reason for that. The asset is incredibly aggressive and has already tried to go after some of our maintenance team." Claire countered.

"You think maybe the fact that she's been isolated her whole life has anything to do with that?" Danny pointed out. "You keep calling her an asset but she's still an animal; a living, breathing animal. I don't know of too many species that travel or live alone because there's strength and safety in numbers. I think a lot of her aggression is her intelligence and her defense mechanism. Right now she feels threatened because she's alone."

"Then maybe you can tell me what made her see her sister as a threat, because she wasn't alone in the beginning," Claire responded flatly.

"If you let me get closer to her, I can find that out for you. But until then, we're not accomplishing anything because she won't let us near enough," Danny said. Claire studied him, tapping her chin in thought then exhaled slowly.

"Fine. We'll give it a trial run. But if it doesn't work, the platform's coming down. I don't want a guest finding it and thinking they can climb up there to get a better look at the I-Rex." Claire said.

"Fine. Authorized personnel only." Danny agreed.

"And I want updates from both of you," Claire added before dismissing them both.

"You got it, Boss." Danny added with a grin, exchanging the same with Mia, who looked just as excited by this next development.

Danny had begun to realize Claire wasn't kidding about their constructional engineers being top of the line when they had their platform built within two weeks. In between that time period, they had gone into the viewing platform to watch and observe the I-Rex. In a file Danny had been keeping, he quickly jotted down different traits about the Indominus that they had noticed. Tomorrow the platform would be available for them to use, so in the meantime, both Danny and Mia were in Danny's apartment, exchanging notes and discussing how things would go the next day with the TV providing background noise behind them.

"She still needs a name," Mia pointed out.

"Snowball," Danny deadpanned, laughing when Mia chucked a balled up paper towel at him.

"No, she needs something majestic. Powerful," She said, tapping her pen against the coffee table.

"Fantasia?" Danny suggested. "Killer?"

"Fantasia…. I dunno. 'Killer'? You're hilarious," Mia rolled her eyes, then stopped. "What about Dahlia?"

"After 'The Black Dahlia Murders'?" Danny said, mulling it over. "I actually like it."

"Sweet. We can see what she thinks of the name," Mia said, and Danny shot her a weird look.

"What? I think she's smart enough to have her own opinion of her name," Mia said, feigning indignance.

"I just don't want you to get your hopes up," Danny said. "The chances of having a magical bonding moment with her is pretty slim to none. Just be prepared that she may never fully accept us,"

"I know," Mia responded softly. She knew what the reality was, but it didn't stop her from hoping they'd at least be able to get somewhere with the Indominus. What she wanted to do was sort of give Dahlia a chance that nobody had really given her yet. Danny hated seeing Mia look discouraged, too.

"We'll see what happens, okay?" Danny told her gently. "We have all the resources to make this a success. It's up to her at this point. One step at a time."

They continued looking through the Indominus' file when Danny's phone went off. Mia saw him look over and pick it up off the counter, looking at it as a scowl formed his features.

"Goddamnit," He muttered, exhaling heavily as he got up from his seat. "I'll be right back, I've got to make a phone call."

"Everything okay?" Mia asked him.

"Yeah, it's fine, this'll just take a minute. Sorry," Danny said. He grabbed his pack of cigarettes off the counter and headed toward the back patio. Mia watched him as he closed the sliding glass door. She knew exactly who it was. She could tell by his body language. There was only one person who brought that out of Danny and it was Amanda. She was the only one who caused that kind of tension and disdain in him. But she also knew his resentment came from the fact that he did still love her, and their divorce was really hurting him. Listening to Danny's muffled voice from the other side of the glass, hearing the restraint in his voice of him obviously trying the best he could to keep calm when he was moments away from losing his cool, Mia couldn't help but feel angry toward Amanda. What was wrong with this woman? Mia knew it took two in a marriage for things to go south but she couldn't help but side with her colleague and friend. Danny was a great guy who put all of his effort into his job and his personal life. He had given Amanda everything, about broke his back to make things work and for her to degrade and belittle him? To make him feel like he was insignificant or that he didn't mean anything to her when Mia knew Danny would have given anything to help her? It infuriated Mia that someone like that could treat him the way Amanda had treated him.

Exhaling heavily, Mia could hear the heated conversation seem to die down to the end, peering out and seeing Danny sitting on the chaise lounge with his back to the glass door. Mia dug her pack of cigarettes out of her purse, pulled one out and shoved a lighter in her back pocket as she tentatively pulled the glass door partway open. Danny, with his phone to his ear and a lit cigarette in hand, turned partially and looked her way when Mia gave him a look inquiring if he wanted to be left alone. He shook his head, motioning for her to come out and Mia silently closed the door behind her, sitting down on the other chaise as she lit her cigarette.

"That's really nice, Mands. While you're dragging my name through the mud, why don't you tell your lawyer I beat you, too, while you're at it? I mean, if you haven't already, I wouldn't be surprised," Danny muttered darkly, taking a drag from his cigarette and slowly exhaled smoke through his nose. "No. What I really want to know at some point is why. I would really love to know what I did that made you hate me so much, and what made me so worthless in your eyes. You just said it now. You just said I was."

Mia saw Danny's lips tighten into a line as he continued to try to keep from losing his temper completely and she heard the acerbic chattering on the other end of the phone.

"No, I'm not having this discussion now. Amanda-I'm living on the property I work at, I'm not going to get into a screaming match with you, even though I'm sure you'd love to see me fired for something like that." Danny said, then rolled his eyes, and his voice rose. "That's such bullshit. Not once was I ever more concerned about my job than you. I busted my ass for the _both_ _of us_."

"Danny," Mia said softly so she couldn't be heard by Amanda, laying a hand on his arm gently to urge him to keep his voice down and try to keep him calm, knowing that the last thing he needed was for the other employees to find out about his problems with his personal life. Danny looked her way and swallowed, drawing a breath.

"I'm hanging up the phone. Anything else you want to discuss, have your lawyer talk to mine, because I'm done here," Danny said. He hung up the phone and set it down on the chaise next to him, lowering his head into his hand and exhaled slowly. Mia moved closer to him, laying a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"That bad, huh?" Mia asked sympathetically and Danny gave a dry, humorless laugh.

"I'm just looking forward to this being over and done with." He muttered. "I'm done with the lawyers, done with the he-said-she-said bullshit. I just want Amanda to fucking drop of the planet and stay out of my life. I gave ten years of mine to her only to have it thrown back in my face, have her lie to me, all of it. I'm just done."

"You have every right to be," Mia told him. She sat next to him, wanting to let her friend vent if he needed to, but was furious with Amanda for doing this to him.

"Word of advice, Mia, don't get married," Danny said. "Believe me, you'll be saving yourself a ton of misery. After this, I'm done with marriage. I should just be done with relationships. I've got too much going on with work, I'm in the middle of Costa Rica. And what woman is going to want anything to do with a recently divorced man? I'm better off just staying out of the dating scene."

Mia couldn't really understand why she felt a little disappointed by what Danny said. She didn't want him to feel like it was hopeless at this point.

"Come on," She said lightly. "You'll find somebody,"

"After all this I want to stay out of it," Danny said, shaking his head as he took one last drag from his cigarette before stubbing it out. Mia drew smoke into her lungs from her own, holding it for a moment as her mind whirled over what Danny had said. She wanted more than anything to tell him that this wasn't his fault, that it was okay to still feel hurt over what Amanda had done and not try to hide from it. She also wanted more than anything to tell him that he would find someone who would put the same effort, who would appreciate him for what he did and love him the way he deserved to be.

The thing is, it was easier to stay silent than take the chance of what the result of that would be. It was easier to let him talk about it in his own time.

The next morning was the day they'd be trying out the platform. Mia found she had a difficult time falling asleep that night, and woke up that morning with a foggy head and in a crappy mood. Danny seemed to notice when she met him out by the jeep.

"You okay?" He asked as she got in the car, though she paused when she found a coffee cup with her name on it on her side of the cup holder.

"Yeah, just didn't really sleep well," She said, though her spirits had brightened a little bit at the gesture, shooting Danny a small smile. "Thanks."

Her words concerned Danny, though. He hoped he wasn't inadvertently dragging her into his drama and causing her to lose sleep over it. That was the last thing he wanted. He adored Mia and knew she cared greatly about him, but he also knew that they had spent enough time together to really be able to key in on each other's mood and whatever was going on in their lives affected the other one. But this was the last thing Mia needed on her plate. Danny didn't want her to feel dragged down by his own shit. Mia had been a huge emotional support for him, and it meant a lot to him, but he felt bad if his misery was dragging her down with him.

They got to paddock eleven and Danny parked the jeep. Kevin, the paddock operator, was there to assist them, and when they got into the viewing platform, they saw the stairs outside where it led to the catwalk and the platform that was above I-Rex head level, as well as the one that was a little bit lower.

"How do we want to do this?" Danny asked.

"I can drop a steer to bring her out. We set a plastic bucket up there with frozen chunks of beef if you feel brave enough to hand feed her," Kevin said, handing Danny a walkie-talkie. "Keep me posted as to what goes on."

Mia and Danny went upstairs and inside the chamber leading out to the platform, there was the bucket.

"We're going to take this slowly," Danny said. "We can't afford not to."

The minute the steer was dropped, the Indominus lumbered out slowly, but she was quick to notice them. She didn't move with the same grace as of a mature dinosaur, but had a more adolescent, erratic bounce to her step. She was huge, but it was through her movements that they came to realize really how young she was and that it showed through in her actions. But it also made her dangerous, and more impulsive. She reared upward and cocked her head to the side before she opened her maw and uttered a furious, bellowing shriek. Her roar sounded like a mottled mix of different predators. It was both impressive and equivalent to hearing something loud go off in an aluminum box. It was a mutant, deafening sound, but it was clear the animal was furious that they were in her turf. She moved nearer to the platform and raised herself as high as she could to get a better look at her intruders. She gave a frustrated squawk and snarl, curling her lip as her eyes shot daggers at them, pacing back and forth and causing the ground beneath her to shake as she did, tail swaying side to side rapidly like an angry cat.

Danny reached for Mia's arm to pull her slightly back. "Stay away from the edge of the platform. You don't want her to be able to reach you," He said.

"Dan, I'm okay, I promise," Mia said, trying to move up a little bit while staying away from the edge. "Hi pretty girl,"

The Indominus rolled a crimson eye toward her and Mia could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She reached into the bucket, but uttered a gasp and stumbled back when the animal's massive jaws tried to clamp down on the platform. It was higher up, and she just managed to hook her upper mandible on the platform, but she didn't bite down hard. It was like a shark, investigating with her mouth before she released and took a step back, a low growl rumbling through her.

"You're okay baby," Mia murmured. She closed her fingers around a chunk of partially thawed meat, then scooted forward and dropped it off the edge of the platform. Danny almost wondered if it was too small for the Indominus to see, half expecting a reaction like a dog that saw food drop but had no idea where it went, but the Indominus was smarter than that. She had watched Mia's every movement and watched the red, fleshy chunk drop, then lowered her head to where it had fallen. She found the melon-sized chunk within seconds and was quick to send it sliding down her throat.

"Good girl, Dahlia," Mia said, trying out the name. The Indominus was growing to understand an assortment of different words of these creatures. She had heard some more often than others; _freak_ and _mutant_ being one of the many, and even _monster_ , but the word this female used was a different one. She was a stranger and the feeling of other creatures in her enclosure was a sensation that the Indominus didn't like one bit, and the fact that they were out of reach just infuriated her. But the chunk of meat that dropped from the platform intrigued her, and the soft tones that were spoken from the little female's larynx deterred the Indominus from ambush. She'd already gotten a pretty good indication that there would be repercussions trying to destroy the platform. It was hard and she didn't like the metallic clang it made that reverberated through her mouth to her head even when her teeth clicked against it lightly. The smell was a turnoff for her, too.

"I really wonder how much of this you understand," Mia told her. "Dahlia,"

There was that word again, and when the Indominus tilted her head and gave any sort of response, the human female dropped another fleshy, melon sized chunk. The Indominus saw where it fell and went for it again. The same process was repeated and this time, when the girl used the word, the Indominus took a step forward and waited for the chunk to fall once more. But this time there also came enthusiastic words like _goodgirl_ that sounded like praise. It reinforced that her response to the word was a good thing. Was this how they wanted to address her? Was it a word she was supposed to come to them to? The Indominus had no idea what the other humans that came to her paddock wanted of her. There was no structure, no routine, but she knew when they were scared of her. When she smelled fear from them, they behaved like prey, and it triggered her prey instinct. If they acted like prey, then she'd give them a reason to be afraid of her. But she did **not** like the fact that these two humans that were in behind the mirror were now in **her** territory with her. It was invasive, and it she wanted them out. But their actions invoked curiosity in her and read as a challenge. Another shrill roar ripped through her vocal chords and agape jaws, proceeding in a threatening lunge at them, jaws snapping.

"Mia, get back toward the wall. Get back to the wall. _Get back to the wall._ " Danny said sharply.

But it alarmed and confused Dahlia more than they realized.

They weren't moving. She had charged, and they didn't scurry away in a panic. The platform didn't move, either. Dahlia took another sharp step and snapped once more, giving another shrill warning, and still nothing. Danny instinctively reached to take hold of Mia's shoulders to pull her back if needed.

The fact that it elicited nowhere near the same response as Dahlia was used to freaked her out completely. She could do damage, yes. She could be dangerous, but her adolescence still made her no match for larger predators just yet, and something in her genetic wiring told her she wasn't as high up on the food chain yet as she should be. She tried to make herself look as scary as possible. The fear of others gave her the confidence that she could stand on her own, and these two little humans gave no response? From higher up than she was?

Dahlia exploded in a frantic, snarling, barking tirade, tail lashing and head moving to and fro through her series of shrill squawks before scurrying in a lumbering, less-than-majestic panic, giving a series of warning snaps like something was after her before her scales shuddered and she camouflaged herself with the rest of the foliage, disappearing from the open.

Both Mia and Danny were completely stunned. Danny gave a confused laugh before hitting the call button on the radio.

"Kevin, is she on the thermal detectors?" Danny asked.

" _Nope, she's completely hidden herself. What in the hell was all that?"_

"She couldn't get to us, she knew she couldn't. We were higher up than she was, she was trying to bluff, and we weren't moving. It freaked her out," Mia mused with a laugh, shaking her head. "She is big and bad but really, she's still very much an adolescent. We just rocked her world by taking away her option of scaring us out of her territory,"

"We just need to be careful. We don't want to put her in a position of where her flight option is taken away and she actually does fight back," Danny said. "She may be a baby, but she's still big and she's still dangerous."

"That's true, but this might actually be a step forward," Mia said. "We found an upper hand on the Indominus."


	5. Disclaimer

**AN~ Hey you guys, next chapter coming, but I felt compelled to include this. Yes, Screaming In The Night is based off of Jurassic World, but otherwise, completely fictitious.**

 **All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.**

 **Thanks! New chapter coming soon. - Wendigo**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN~ Hey you guys, thank you so much for reading, I'm noticing a few more favorites and follows on this, which I greatly appreciate. I was skeptical about this chapter, but figured I'd suck it up and just post it. Thank you so much for SkullsandDuggery for the input! I so appreciate it. Enjoy! And I can't stress enough, please do not hesitate, you guys, to send a review. I really am curious to see what you think and want to get your feedback. - Wendigo**

The next day when Mia and Danny went out to Paddock Eleven, there was no amount of anything that was going to coax Dahlia out of hiding. She was pissed. Her bluff had been called and her pride was hurt, and now she sulked and refused to come out of the overgrown vegetation. Mia had gone out on the platform with the same bucket of partially thawed beef and knelt, while Danny stood by the door, ready to aid if she needed him.

"C'mon, Dahlia, it's okay pretty girl," Mia called softly. Dahlia gave a low growl in warning, and a single lash of her well-camouflaged tail, and Mia sighed, rocking back on her haunches, her knees tucked underneath her.

"I want to go in there." She said.

"Well, you're not going to," Danny said firmly. "She can barely handle us up on the platform. You're at a horrible disadvantage if you go into the paddock with her, and she will come after you."

"What if she doesn't?"

"I don't want to take that chance, Mia. For your own sake, let's just keep going how we are for awhile longer. We can't rush this, Mia, we've got to go at Dahlia's pace. Hopefully when she's ready to approach us she will." Danny responded. Mia drew a breath, tempted to retort, but she had nothing to counter that with. She knew he was concerned about her safety. But in that moment, Mia had a small thought. She had no idea if it would even work, but it was worth a try.

"Maybe she'll be more comfortable with men," Mia said, looking in Danny's direction. "You want to try?"

"Yeah, I'll give it a try," Danny gave a shrug. He and Mia switched spots as he narrowed his eyes to try to find any indication of Dahlia. He spotted her crimson eye staring at him as he got situated, pulling up one knee and rested his arm on it.

"Hey beautiful," Danny called, his tone rising a bit in a gentle, friendly manner. Dahlia still gave no indication that she was about to take a step near him. Her ashen frame began to slowly become visible, but Danny watched her lower herself to the ground and lie with her forearms drawn up under her, curled up as she proceeded to eyeball him. Her way of telling him _Call me all you want, I'm not going over there._

"She's like a cat," Danny chuckled, shaking his head as he positioned himself. "It's your call, Dahlia. I can sit here all day. I know you understand me."

Dahlia understood parts of it, but more so understood the tone in his voice that was light-hearted, but final. This was a waiting game. She was determined to win.

"You sure you don't want to come over here? We've got something for you," Danny called, tipping the bucket slightly to look in, glancing out of the corner of his eye. Dahlia had lowered her head to foreclaws, turning it slightly so she could still look at him. In response to his statement, Dahlia's lip curled in warning.

"Okay fine," Danny said with a shrug, but he exhaled slowly, muttering under his breath. "Come on, don't make me do something I don't want to do."

Dahlia's gaze on him radiated defiance and challenge. She was stubborn, but so was Danny. He exhaled heavily, but it was their last option as he pressed the button on the radio.

"Kev, don't drop a steer for her tonight. I'm gonna be here awhile," Danny said.

" _You got it."_

"What's going on?" Mia looked in Danny's direction.

"Well, we need her to depend on us for food and for general companionship. Food being the first indication. My plan is her eventually getting hungry and realizing that we have food. From then on, we can establish that relationship," Danny said. "I'm gonna wait her out."

"Which means I'm waiting with you," Mia said. "What do you want for dinner? Chinese or Grill?"

Danny looked in her direction, realizing she was going to be staying out here with him and was picking up food for them. He was pleasantly surprised and grateful that she was so hands on.

"Let's do Chinese."

JWJWJW

A rainstorm had hit, and Danny squinted his eyes to see through the heavy tropical rain. It was dark now, and he could barely the Indominus still curled up in the brush. She had tried to apparently seek shelter under leaves, but it wasn't working out too well for her. Danny still sat on the platform, huddled under a camouflage tarp that he had dragged out there, still sitting and watching. He heard footsteps on the metal platform behind him and glanced over, seeing Mia come up with the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, holding two cups of coffee.

"Anything?" She asked, sitting down next to him and set his coffee down in front of him. Danny shook his head, but opened his arm with the tarp so she could get under it. She inadvertently scooted nearer to him, seeking shelter underneath the tarp with him. She hadn't expected his arm to still be draped lightly over her shoulders, but what surprised her more was the feeling of safety near him, and couldn't help the giddy feeling in her chest when she felt him so near. She cleared her throat, shifting close to him with her cargo-pant legs crossed, taking a sip from her paper coffee cup.

"Nope. Willful little shit," Danny said with a sigh, but his tone was good natured. "Just got to wait her out. You know, you can always go back up to housing and go to bed. You don't have to wait out here with me."

"No, I'm not leaving you out here alone. This is our project, we're in it together," Mia said firmly

"Stubborn," Danny snorted with a light grin. Mia smirked.

"You forget how long I've had to deal with you?" She teased, giving him a playful nudge. Danny rolled his eyes with a chuckle, shaking his head.

"You can't blame all of that on me. You had to be a little bit to begin with to be able to put up with me as long as you have. You could have just decided I was a jerk and moved on."

"I could have, but that would have proved you right when you told me I didn't have what it took in the beginning," Mia pointed out. "I was twenty-two."

"You know I only said that to see how far I could push you," Danny said. "I always knew you had what it took to do this. I knew pushing you would make you tell me to go fuck myself and prove me wrong. You may not have told me to go fuck myself but you definitely went out of your way to prove me wrong."

"Believe me, there were many times I wanted to tell you to go fuck yourself," Mia said wryly and Danny laughed.

"I knew it."

Danny looked over at Mia. She still had her hood over her head, her blonde hair wet and twisted partially over her shoulder. The only makeup she had on was a little bit of smudged mascara and eyeliner from the rain and what had worn off during the day, but regardless of how late it was, how cold and miserable, she still had the same eager, enthusiastic glint in her hazel eyes and grin on her face. Bundled up next to him in a soaking wet hoody and puffy vest, she looked gorgeous.

 _Oh you are getting yourself into so much trouble._ Danny's conscience scolded him and his mind went on system overload. _This is a bad idea. Bad, horrible idea. You're still married, going through a nasty divorce, and the_ _ **last**_ _thing you need to be doing is starting absolutely anything with the girl you mentored and are now working with. She's younger than you. Do not go there._

 _I don't have feelings for her. The divorce is fucking with me._ Danny exhaled heavily, looking back toward the direction of the Indominus and ran a hand over his face. Mia also had noticed for a split second when she looked over at Danny and saw him looking at her before looking away, and she swore she was just imagining it. He was her friend and mentor, it was nothing more than that.

Right?

She'd be insane for getting involved with him. Why now? They had known each other for years and worked closely together for years, what was it about now that was so different?

They both shared a moment of uncomfortable silence, and Danny still had his arm around her shoulders. He couldn't remove it without looking like a dick, but he didn't want to, either. Mia suddenly inched a little bit closer to him, curious as to how he would reach, her arm pressed to his side, and Danny seemed to instinctively and protectively tighten his arm lightly around her, disguising it by adjusting the tarp over the both of them.

Moments seem to be ticking on by, and Danny, who had spaced out a little bit, heard the thudding footsteps of the animal and it startled him out of his daydream. Mia had obviously heard it, too, and the next thing they both knew, ashen scaled had seemed to shudder to visibility right near them and the soft rumble was heard, and both Danny and Mia started abruptly.

" **Holy sh-** " Danny sputtered, and Mia quickly tugged the bucket over.

"Look at her!" Mia whispered excitedly. She could have sworn Dahlia wore a begrudging look, and watched her and Danny expectantly.

"What a good girl," Danny praised. He moved out from under the tarp and dug a chunk of beef out of the bucket. It was a partially melted, wet, bloody mess at this point, but the soggy meat was better than nothing. He dropped a decent sized chunk and Dahlia scoped it out on the ground before immediately grabbing it.

"She is so not happy about caving," Mia laughed, "But look at her."

"She's a smart girl. She figured out what we were trying to do, and smart enough to realize it wouldn't work for her trying to wait us out," Danny said.

Dahlia clearly wasn't about to take it from them directly, and they didn't want to chance feeding her by hand yet. Rain drizzled down her face and now soaked Mia and Danny, but Dahlia stayed pretty near. She uttered the soft, purring snuffle, warbling deep in the back of her throat, but all it took was one movement that was too fast for her liking and Dahlia gave a hiss in warning.

"What do you think, Dolly? Think you can give us a shot and let us be friends?" Danny said light-heartedly to the hybrid dinosaur. Dahlia's tail swished lightly to the side and she tilted her head, watching Danny drop another chunk of beef and snatched it up off the ground. Mia gave an excited squeak in the back of her throat, a smile broadening across her face as she flung her arms around Danny's shoulders from behind him in an enthusiastic, congratulatory hug. Danny chuckled, lifting a hand and gave her forearm around the front of his chest a gentle squeeze. They were finally getting somewhere. They might actually be gaining some sort of headway with the Indominus Rex.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN~ Hey you guys, thank you so much to my followers and the people who favorited this. Not sure why but I had a lot of problems with this chapter. There will be more to come, this one just fought with me for some reason. Hope you all have a great Halloween, and PLEASE review! - Sixx**

The next night, after the park closed, some of the staff opted to head to the bar and grill on the premises. They had the chance to go back to housing and change, and when Mia came out of her apartment to meet Danny, she was dressed in black jeans, leather knee-high boots, and a black and grey flannel shirt over her black camisol. Her hazel eyes were lines with eyeliner and mascara, and she offered a smile in Danny's direction when she came out her door. It might have been the first time in the last four weeks that Danny had seen her out of her cargo pants and t-shirts.

 _Holy shit._

"You clean up well," Danny said, lightly teasing her. Mia rolled her eyes, elbowing him lightly in the ribs.

"Oh you're so nice." She fired back in the same wry tone. Danny chuckled and they headed to the car, where Danny opened the passenger door for her and shut it before getting in on the drivers' side. They got to the bar and grill and parked, heading up to the entrance. Mia saw a few familiar faces, like Barry, Vivian Krill from the control base, and another guy with dark hair and glasses, who they came to realize was Lowery Cruthers from control when they heard his voice. The only time they had spoken to him was through radio.

"You guys made it," Mia turned and saw Owen Grady coming their way. She practically felt Danny tense up next to her. Both men eyed each other in what appeared to be wariness. "Danny."

"Owen." Danny responded with a curt nod, shaking the hand Owen offered him. The gesture was civil, but still a bit terse. They bought drinks and headed to the back patio, where Mia was surprised to find Zara outside talking to someone Mia didn't recognize. Beside her, Danny had dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, stuck one between his lips and lit it.

"How's training the Indominus going?" Owen asked. There was a pessimistic tone to his voice, almost as though he didn't find it possible that the animal could be trained. Danny glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, exhaling smoke through his nose.

"It's actually going better than we anticipated," Mia said before Danny could respond with a sarcastic remark of his own. Danny snorted, taking the cigarette between his index finger and thumb.

"How're your girls doing?" He asked. "That one bronze one that tried to kill you a few weeks ago? Echo?"

"She's fine." Owen responded stonily, brows furrowing. "She's making progress."

The finality in Owen's words and his defensiveness told a completely different story however. It made Mia come to realize that they might not be the only ones running into speed bumps with their charge's training. But whether Owen wanted to admit it or not was a whole other story.

"Really?" Danny said. "Sounds like there's trouble in paradise with you and your girls. Which is fine, all predators are different."

"Well, unlike your situation I actually know what my girls are, rather than a mutant carbon copy. I know their behavior and their species, it isn't a guessing game," Owen said coolly. Danny's blue-grey eyes narrowed in response.

"That's clever, Owen. Did you come up with that the last time Echo attacked you? Or was she attacking one of her sisters?" Danny said.

"Does Claire usually come to these?" Mia asked, interjecting quickly before the conversation could get more heated, inwardly wanting to shoot Danny a look to knock it off.

"No, she doesn't," Owen replied, clearly not happy with Danny's remark but opted to ignore it. "She sort of keeps to herself."

Mia had managed to divert the conversation from anything that might create any sort of altercation between Danny and Owen. They went back inside and Danny and Mia stood by the bar talking with a few other zookeepers from the Petting Zoo area. Mia glanced over and saw Owen go outside, taking a seat on the bench. Her brows furrowed slightly at the sober look on the raptor trainer's face.

"Dan, I'll be right back, I'm gonna step outside for a minute," Mia said, touching Danny's arm lightly to get his attention. Danny looked her way then over his shoulder to the patio.

"Oh okay, go make friends with Owen," Danny said, feigning dejection. "Bat your eyes at him."

"Danny, stop it," Mia rolled her eyes and turned so she was standing in front of him, searching his face. "Listen, I know you and Owen have this alpha male complex thing going-"

"-Oh gee, thanks alot-"

"-Whatever it is," Mia finished, "But maybe getting a little closure with him couldn't hurt. There might be something we're missing,"

Mia saw Danny's eyebrows furrow and he averted his gaze, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine, go ahead." He said with a shrug. Mia sighed, finding his eyes.

"Danny, come on," She said.

"No, go ask the master raptor trainer. He's probably seeing something we don't-or no, that _I_ don't." He said simply. Mia knew immediately where this was heading. It was a front from Danny's already lowered self esteem from the divorce. He took it as one more person who felt like he wasn't good enough for something. Because he didn't feel like he was.

"Hey, Danny, look at me," Mia searched his face and Danny exhaled heavily, grudgingly meeting her gaze. "You're an amazing trainer. You're capable. I don't doubt that for a second. But it can't hurt. Hell, maybe look at Echo. Maybe there's something Owen's missing that you can catch."

Mia saw Danny's hardened expression and his macho, tough guy demeanor soften a little bit.

"Don't lie to me," Danny said light-heartedly, his tone a teasing warning.

"I'm not lying to you," Mia assured him, squeezing his arm. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Alright, just don't leave me in here with these people," Danny said in hushed, mock desperation, causing Mia to stifle a snort. The petting zoo people were definitely a breed of their own. The "make stockings for Christmas for the Apatosaurus babies for Christmas with carrots sort of people. Mia went outside, zeroing in on Owen and a-lined for him casually.

"Hey," She said. "Not much of a socializer, are you?"

"Nah, I'm just at my limit with crowds," Owen said, taking a swig from his beer. Mia dug a pack of cigarettes out of her bag, looking at Owen and motioning at the pack.

"Do you care?"

"Nope, you're fine," Owen responded with a shrug. Mia stuck a cigarette in her mouth and lit it, drawing the smoke into her lungs before exhaling slowly, sitting down on the bench next to him. "I used to smoke a couple of years back. Had to quit, the girls hated the smell,"

"Uh oh, that might be bad news for me," Mia said. Owen grinned.

"Nah, if she hasn't shown any response to it now, or the smell, then you should be fine," He replied, glancing in her direction.

"So, I guess even hybrid monsters can form an opinion?" Mia said wryly, though she really just wanted to gauge where Owen stood at this point with their girl. Owen wore a sheepish expression.

"I may have been a little harsh with what I said about her before," He said. "I'm actually glad you guys are making strides with her, even if it is slow. My whole thing, though, is how they created her. They messed with stuff that really we don't have any business messing with, and that could cause a whole lot of other issues as far as her physical and mental health goes. She never asked to be born, and here she's thrown into a world where she really has no idea where she stands or where she is as far as the food chain goes. I just think it was a bad idea, but you see a different side to her than I do."

"Well, it hasn't been an easy run," Mia said, taking another drag from her cigarette. "She's a stubborn thing. Danny and I sat out there in the rain waiting for her to decide whether or not she wanted to approach us as a resource. We still can't really get near her but one step at a time."

"The fact that she's approaching you guys is big," Owen remarked, looking Mia's way. "And doing so non-aggressively. If she wanted nothing to do with you, she'd either lash out or wouldn't go anywhere near you. Don't quote me on that, though, because I don't know her body language, I couldn't say for sure, but even predators have a sense of self-preservation. It's not worth it to her getting herself hurt, so if she's coming to you guys as a resource, that's a huge first step."

"That's really good to hear, it gives me a lot more reassurance on this whole matter," Mia said. Owen nodded.

"Barry and I were trying to do that with Echo before she went rogue," He muttered, a disparaging note in his voice. Mia's brows shot up.

"Did she really-?"

"No, I'm exaggerating, but she's gotten a lot more ornery," Owen said, running a hand over his scruffy jaw. "She's challenging me, she's challenging Blue, and I don't know what to do about it. Last time she and Blue got into it, Blue fractured Echo's jaw. You'd think she'd have learned by now, but she's just decided she's going to do whatever it takes because she wants to be the one in charge. I'm worried that the only way this is going to get settled is one of them getting badly hurt and I don't want to take that chance,"

"Understandable. They're your babies, you want to keep them safe," Mia said. Owen nodded.

"Exactly. But there's only so much I can do, and I'm still trying to think of someway we can protect both Echo and Blue from each other, and keep Barry and myself safe." He said, exhaling heavily. "I guess one step at a time,"

"Have you tried working with her individually?" Mia asked. "Like just one on one, outside of a pack encounter. Her acting out might be a little bit like that one kid in class. Part of it is that she's got an audience and challenging Blue is more of an ego thing,"

Owen seemed to mull over Mia's suggestion, and she was grateful to see him actually take it into consideration and not be dismissive.

"I actually might try that. We've been doing solitary work with Echo but I usually have Blue in there in case things go bad, which might actually be making things worse, now that I think about it," He said.

"If you're expecting her to act out, then she's probably more likely to," Mia said. Owen nodded slowly.

"Son of a bitch, that's probably exactly what a big part of it is," He muttered, shaking his head. He looked over at Mia. "I really appreciate your input on this. You actually have more knowledge on animal behavior than I really expected."

Mia wasn't sure whether to be offended or take Owen's direct statement as a compliment. "Erm.. thanks? I think?"

"Sorry, that came out a little more blunt than I meant for it to," Owen said with a grin, shaking his head. "That was supposed to be a compliment. Listen, what do you think of once a week, you and Danny can come out and check out the raptors and watch us work with them? It might give you a little bit of insight on your girl,"

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Mia said, nodding. "I'll see if Danny's down, but that'd be a huge help."

From inside, Danny had glanced over at the window and saw Mia and Owen out on the patio talking. He knew what Mia was trying to do and knew it was for the best for all three of them, but Danny couldn't help but feel a little bit territorial. Mia had been _his_ intern. _He_ had been the one to teach her what she knew. Who was this young guy coming in here thinking he was hot shit? Realistically, Danny knew what he was thinking wasn't rational, and he also knew that if he acted on his impulse and moved over there, he would just make things worse. So instead, he stayed out of the way, tense and glancing over periodically like a protective older brother.

"Not a good idea, man," The younger guy, Lowery, said as he made his way from the bar over to Danny. With a thin mustache, dark hair and thick rimmed glasses, Lowery didn't look like he left the control base often. "I know that look. I don't know what the deal is with you and him, and I can tell you, it's a bad idea. Owen's a big dude,"

"I don't care how big he is, or younger, he so much as lays a hand on her wrong, I'll fold him in half," Danny muttered. Lowery was about to respond, but thought twice. He didn't know Danny all that well yet. He could gauge Owen's moods, but not this guy. Danny seemed like the kind of guy and one of the very few who Lowery guessed probably could take their raptor trainer. That was a match that Lowery both would have put money on, and one that he nor anyone else in Control wanted to see.

"He's not-I don't think he would," Lowery said, throwing a glance out toward the patio. "Mia's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself,"

"Yeah, maybe," Danny responded, taking a sip of his Jack and Coke. It wasn't stopping him from keeping an eye on Owen, though.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN~ Hey you guys, sorry it's taken me so long to get the new chapter published, was sort of stuck with a block for a bit but found a way to work through it. PLEASE please please let me know what you think of this and feel free to write a review. Enjoy! - Sixx**

Following the employee outing, Danny and Mia both felt compelled to go check on Dahlia. They stopped at food storage to get a bucket of frozen goat cuts and headed out to Paddock Eleven.

"So how'd your talk with Owen go?" Danny said. Mia glanced his way.

"It went fine. I think I'm developing a better rapport with him, I think it could really help us out," She responded. Danny gave her an unimpressed look and Mia narrowed her eyes.

"Stop it."

"What?"

"Come on, you're giving me the 'traitor' face," Mia pointed out. Danny shrugged indifferently.

"No, I'm not," He responded. "Just… be careful. I saw the way he was looking at you, and I know how guys think; especially guys like Owen."

"What are you talking about? It was a totally normal conversation." Mia looked at him incredulously.

"That's how it always starts out. I know how guys like that operate because I was the same way when I was Owen's age. I have quite a few more years on you, Mia, just trust me on this," Danny said. Mia rolled her eyes before looking back at him.

"You're not really pulling the age card on me,"

"I'm not trying to, but it's true. I've seen this shit before. He's a cocky guy, thinks you're an attractive girl but that's all he's really going to see. His ego is too wrapped up in his own work to really have any respect for you as his colleague,"

"Then what do you call what you're doing now?" Mia countered.

"What do you mean?"

"Danny, I can't learn or grow as an animal behaviorist or handler if you don't let me? You've taught me just about everything I know but if you keep hovering over me and treating me like an intern, that's all I'm ever going to be. This is my livelihood, my **job**. I love working with you, you and I make a great team but I need to improve. I need to learn for myself. I can't keep doing this if you can't trust me and regard me like a colleague instead of an apprentice." She said.

Danny had opened his mouth to refute, but instead said nothing. He had nothing. There was no valid argument that he could defend himself with once he came to find out how Mia felt and that there was a chance that she was in fact right.

Mia studied him for a moment then sighed, picking up the bucket. "Let's go check on Dahlia then head back," She muttered. She was annoyed and felt dejected, and Danny felt like an asshole. He hadn't ever intended to make her feel like she was incompetent by just trying to protect her, and that was something he thought more about during their silent ride back to housing. A few hours later, Mia was sitting crosslegged on her bed with her laptop in front of her, still irritated by her argument with Danny, but it upset her that they even had come to that in the first place. She didn't like fighting with him. They knew each other so well and worked so closely with each other that it was inevitable, but the hard part was that usually if she had a problem or was upset by something, Danny was the first person she went to, and he to her. This time made that difficult.

A knock on her door caught her attention and she looked up.

"It's open."

When she realized it was Danny who had knocked and now opened the door, she gave a quick glance upward at him but otherwise kept her attention on her laptop. Danny wasn't going to let her ignore him, however, and went over to her bed, sitting on the edge of it as he studied her, trying to will her to meet his gaze by staring at her.

"Did you want something?" Mia mumbled, glancing at him and Danny exhaled slowly.

"I wasn't trying to make you feel like you were incompetent," He told her. "You're one of the most capable handlers I know. I was only looking out for you. I just don't want to see anything bad happen to you. I know I can be stubborn and sort of a jerk, and you're one of the few people that put up with me for it. I care about you and I just get sort of protective of you. You know me, you know I can get sort of irrational, but it's only because I care."

Mia's expression softened and she sighed, closing her laptop and set it down over on the bedside table before turning back to him. "I'm not planning on hooking up with Owen, Dan, it's just a working relationship,"

"I know," Danny said, exhaling slowly and rubbed his eyes. "I think I've just been a little more uptight lately. This whole divorce process has gotten me all worked up, I've been hearing from her the past couple of days and it's just been arguing, back and forth,"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mia asked. Danny shook his head, eyes fixed on the far corner of the room.

"Because that's all you've been hearing about from me, I didn't want to drag you even further into my problems."

"Oh come on, we both come to each other about the bullshit that goes on in our lives," Mia told him. "And yours especially, Danny. This is a big part of your life that's suddenly changed. You're sort of experiencing a death; the death of your marriage and the death of a relationship with a woman you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with,"

Danny nodded slowly, seeming to think over everything. "I think what's been bugging me the past few weeks is how easily I was sort of just, replaced. She's already started dating that same guy she was cheating on me with. It's just sort of made me feel like I'm totally expendable."

Mia came to realize just how much Danny's insecurity caused by his ex wife was playing into what was going on now. It was messing with his head, and it occurred to her that the only reason was that he did care about her, their relationship at work and their friendship. He had invested a lot into teaching her and working with her, and because it happened with one important person in his life, he felt like he could just be replaced by another person he cared about, and it really got to him. She closed a hand over his own.

"Hey, look at me," She said, finding his eyes and Danny seemed to reluctantly do so. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you. I'm not replacing you with anybody. I couldn't possibly. You mean a lot to me, Danny, as my mentor, colleague and friend. No one, especially not Owen, is going to change that."

Danny studied her for a moment, and nodded before a light grin crossed his face, feeling a little uncomfortable with the vulnerability he was exposing. "I don't know how happy any future boyfriend of yours is going to be with that."

"Oh, shut up, come here," Mia rolled her eyes and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. Danny hugged her back, lowering his eyes as he found himself a little more reassured, but didn't want to completely let that show.

"You still mad at me?"He said lightheartedly, giving her a light squeeze.

"Maybe a little bit," Mia said, her tone lightly teasing but she decided she'd drag it out a little further as she and Danny pulled away, and he rolled his eyes.

"Okay, what's it going to take?" He said.

"Horror movie?" She said. "If you watch _The Omen_ with me I might be more inclined to forgive you. It's on On Demand."

"Oh, you're really going to make me suffer, aren't you?" Danny responded, feigning exasperation and torment.

"It'll be like old times waiting for that elephant to calf." Mia said with a sheepish grin, poking out her lower lip. "Please?"

Danny caved, though it didn't really take much, grinning as he pretended to reluctantly crawl onto the bed next to her. "Fine."

Mia grinned, handing him another pillow and Danny lay propped partially up so they could watch the movie, and Mia flipped on the TV, settling back and curled up with her head against his collarbone. Relief has washed over the both of them that everything was worked out, though Danny still wasn't sure how to relay to her how much her support meant to him and how much reassurance her words had brought him earlier. She was right, though. He was going through one of the toughest points in his life, and he couldn't believe how lucky he was to have ended up crossing paths with the bright, hazel eyed intern with a sharp wit and enthusiasm for her job, and who would mean more to Danny than he ever anticipated.


End file.
